Every now and then I look up from my plate and try to take a broader view of barbecue and other great issues. As you’ll recall, not all that long ago, Nancy and I headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a family wedding. I, of course, left a day early because driving to Charlotte means going through Lexington, North Carolina. The drive to Lexington gave … Continue reading Great Barbecue in Lexington
It’s Thursday, or at least it will be tomorrow, and that means time to re-post a restaurant review from the earlier days of the Blog. I stepped outside today and immediately decided that a post from the sunny South was in order. Here’s one from a wonderful seafood places: #### After meals at the Peg Leg Porker and the Golden Rule, Nancy and I continued south to … Continue reading A Look Back: Hunt’s Oyster Bar and Seafood Restaurant, Panama City, Florida
Let’s try this — on Thursdays, I plan to re-post reviews of restaurants from earlier days of the Blog as a service to our more recent readers. Here’s a post on the best barbecue place in Europe, and a Top Place by any standard. ### Wow! That was my reaction to my first bite of brisket at Pendergast Smokehouse in Amsterdam. I was stunned by … Continue reading A Look Back at the Best Barbecue in Europe: Pendergast Smokehouse, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions. Jimmy Koikos of the Bright Star has passed on. The Bright Star is the oldest restaurant in Alabama, having opened in 1907, and it is known and loved for great seafood (the Greek red snapper and the gumbo), great desserts (Nick Saban loves the coconut pie), and the warm, friendly presence of Jimmy Koikos … Continue reading Rest in Peace, Jimmy Koikos of the Bright Star, Bessemer, Alabama
Update: I’ve just posted on a couple of new whole hog barbecue places in Birmingham, outposts of Rodneys Scott’s of Charleston and Martin’s of Nashville. Naturally my thoughts have returned to the great barbecue and the great people at Ramey’s in Parsons, Tennessee. You will recall that during the Great Memphis Region Barbecue Sandwich Tour, upon leaving Ramey’s, I was so overwhelmed that I backed … Continue reading Update: Ramey’s Bar B Que, Parsons, Tennessee
I was very impressed by the whole hog barbecue places in Tennessee during my Great Memphis Region Barbecue Sandwich Tour. You will, no doubt, recall my reviews of B.E. Scott’s in Lexington and Ramey’s, in Parsons, the friendliest town in the world. After eating at B.E. Scott’s and Ramey’s, I was tempted to travel on to Nashville to try Martin’s, but Nashville is not in … Continue reading Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, Cahaba Heights, Alabama
My favorite, or certainly one of my favorite, barbecue meals ever was at Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge. You can, and should, read that review here. It was on Day 2 of my three-day, three-a-day North Carolina Piedmont Tour de Barbecue a while back. So while we were in Charlotte for the Griffin – Duckworth wedding, Nancy and I decided to drive to Red Bridges for … Continue reading Back to Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge, Shelby, North Carolina
Charlotte need no longer skulk about when people are talking about barbecue. Noble Smoke has arrived and Charlotte can hold its head high: they have a Top Place. It was not always so. Famously, when Charlotte was announced as the site of the 2012 Democratic Convention, Michelle Obama touted Charlotte’s “great barbecue.” Mayor Anthony Foxx, perhaps America’s most honest elected official since … George Washington … Continue reading Noble Smoke, Charlotte, North Carolina
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Why does Lexington Barbecue #1 make me quote poetry, as it did in my first review, here? For now, let’s just say that if you come across a Best Barbecue list that does not include Lexington #1 just tear it up and throw it straight into the trash. Well, if you’re looking at the Best … Continue reading Back to Lexington Barbecue #1, Lexington, North Carolina
Well, heck. If you’re in Lexington, Tennessee, at around noon on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday from March 1 to early December or January, and all you’ve had to eat all morning is a truly wonderful barbecue sandwich at B.E. Scott’s (okay, and some chips and slaw), you might as well — should — drive on a ways to Parsons, Tennessee, and have a … Continue reading Ramey’s Bar B Que, Parsons, Tennessee
